Purity under Walden

 Purity under the Walden

  “You must live in the present, launch yourself on everywhere, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look forward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” The inspiring and wise words comes from Thoreau, an independent thinker and philosopher who pour his transcendentalism thought into Walden, an epoch-making book.

   As its name indicates, Walden records the life of Thoreau who live alone by the Walden lake for two years, covering Thoreau thoughts about the relationship between human and nature as well as the purpose of life during the transition from agricultural society to industrial society.

  During the solitary life by the Walden, Thoreau did everything on his own, hunting animals in the forest, planting crop in the rich soil, feeling the extreme silence in the pure nature without the annoying noise of the big city. By living this kind of life, Thoreau came up with mountains of ideas and feelings. A completely self-sufficient life made him realize the value of food and agriculture. The close contact with nature aroused his awe of nature. Keeping far away from city gave him the true inner peace and freedom.

   For many people, the Walden may be just a whine of an old-time writer who couldn’t adapt to new things. But for me, I think it is a masterpiece that strikes at the contradictions of this era and people’s deep mind. Nowadays, with the fast development of science and technology, numerous of emerging technology break through the soil, changing our life style and provide more convenience. However, the emerging technology, especially the Internet, also accelerate the pace of our life and makes our society become impetuous, thus making more and more young people fall into the whirlpool of money and desire, forgetting their true original aspiration. In the face of this phenomenon, Thoreau gave his solution two hundred years ago. Fame and fortune are only illusory, only the inner peace is the real valuable pursuit. Just like the surface of the Walden lake, the inner peace gives people a wonderful experience that they could fall into the lake, lying in the center of the Walden, getting rid of the worldly worries feeling the absolute purity, blending in with the nature.

   Beautiful as poem, pure as water, the Walden should be read by more young people, leading them to the road of inner peace and freedom.

2019-12-30

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